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Yoshia Nakamura Interview 2014
'Biography' Written Transcription of Interview Q: How did your family arrive in the U.S.? Nakamura: "My father was the first and only one in his family to leave Japan. He was only sixteen years old, so he was rather adventurous. Once he came, he went back and forth, and he eventually married my mother in Japan. In 1924, a law was passed that there would be no more immigration from Japan or from the Far East, and so he went and brought my mother and brother, and come to the United States. I think I was probably conceived on the ship because I get seasick quite often. He’s the only one from his family to leave Japan from my knowledge." Q: How was the pre-war environment for the Japanese people? Nakamura: "The pre-war environment, in some ways, was a hassle in that laws were passed that prohibited Asian families to become citizens if they came from China or Japan. There were laws passed in California, where those ineligible for citizenship could not own property, could note lease property, and so, in a sense, there was an attempt to isolate the Asian population. But the way the Japanese coped with it is that they had families with youngsters who were born here, and they eventually were old to lease and own property because they were American citizens. Until that time, my father had to rely on some friend who had some close relative that was an American citizen to lease things for him. And that’s how we coped with the problem. My particular instance was when I went to school in El Monte. There was a special school presumably to teach people how to speak English, and so for a time there was a segregated school for Japanese Americans, Mexican Americans, and others that spoke other languages. I was in sixth grade at El Monte, and my brother, who was younger, had to go to a segregated school. He knew how to speak Japanese and English, but they presumed people didn’t know the language. And so, he protested being put into the school, and eventually there was no distinction. And as my relationship with my fellow students, in the community, I think we were pretty well accepted. Approximately ten to fifteen percent of our student body was made of people of Japanese ancestry, and about the same amount for those with Mexican ancestry, so there was a mixture of Caucasians, Hispanics, and Japanese Americans. In many ways, we were treated pretty well, and we had a small farm where my father marketed his vegetables. He would take them to the markets, and distribute them that way. It’s not that it’s a hard life, but farming is not an easy life. We were not wealthy, but we managed to eat pretty well." Q: What information did you receive about internment from the government? Nakamura: "We were told by signs that people of Japanese ancestry were to be rounded up, and one of the ways that they tried to coat it with euphemistic language like “people of Japanese ancestry, whether alien or non-alien.” Also right after the Pacific War started, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, which I really felt was not a smart idea for them to attack a huge country like the United States. Yet they felt like it was the only way to get an upper hand on things, so the history that developed as a result of this bombing made people assume that we’d be sympathetic to the Japanese Imperial Army. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case at all, and so the people of Japanese ancestry at first were classified as the enemy, whether they were born here or not. It took quite a while before the government allowed Japanese Americans to serve in the military forces because we were classified together with the enemy for quite some time, in which it was fostered by the use of propaganda. It seems the government officials at that time lost their bearing on what is fair, and about what is the role of the Constitution in the lives of people. It was a lot of rumors fostered by the press, by the media, by the radio, and by politicians that were afraid to do the right thing because they were accused of being “soft” on the enemy. In that sense we were classified as the enemy, even though we were American citizens. One of the things that happened when I left El Monte High School as a junior was with one of my close friends that was asked by a reporter, “Well what did you do when your friends had to leave?” He just sat there crying because he couldn’t see why we would be recruited and accused of things we didn’t do. One of my friends visited me at what they called an assembly center, where most of us were herded in mostly race tracks. There were stables, and they had just currently asphalted the manure and everything else on the floor. He came to visit me, but there was a condition that in order to visit me, we had to be in a room like this, where I had to be behind a wall or bars for him to talk to me. It just shocked him so much because he knew that I had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor or with the Japanese government, and it affected him so much that he couldn’t talk about it for about thirty years. He was just so shocked seeing an innocent guy living in a house with search lights, barbed wire fences, and a room where you couldn’t even talk to anyone. Essentially it was like some people who were in jail, who were closed off to prevent them from causing any harm. By the evacuation order, this entire part of the western region was declared a military zone, and as a military zone the military had jurisdiction on the safety of the Western coast, and we were declared a threat. It did not matter if we were citizens or not. And so we were evacuated, authorized by the executive order of the president, which was order 9066. The pressures of the press saying we were a threat to the forces here, and one of the things that happened, despite of all these rumors that we were not to be trusted before, during, or after the war, was that not a single Japanese American that was charged or convicted for disloyalty. There was also racial prejudice for economic reasons, where the people in agriculture wanted to see any competition of Japanese Americans famers diminished. With the history of anti-Asian, I can see why this all built up. There wasn’t any real communications like the radio or the media to stand up and say, “Hey, this is wrong. They have done nothing wrong. You’re not charging them with anything.” The government at that time did not see a fair use of the Constitution, and very little use of human relations. That’s the way I characterize it. What are the people to believe when all they hear is one thing, and it’s wrong? Although there were very good people that did things to help us, but they couldn’t come out and say it in public. I mean, who would publish such a thing?" Q: How much time did you have to leave your home? Nakamura: '''"We were all told to assemble in different places by signs, posters, and telephone calls, and were given a few weeks to dispose of our property. We had to put them into safekeeping or sell them, and we did that. We had a small farm, two vehicles, a horse, pets, chickens, and we had to dispose of them by selling what we could. Some friends took care of some personal things that we couldn’t carry with us. We were ordered to leave, and pack what we could carry. Imagine what that would mean in a household, that you had to carry everything with you. We had to bring things of more sentimental value." '''Q: What was in your head when you found out you had to be interned? Nakamura: "I thought it was unfair. We knew that this was a military order when we were reported at the train station where there were soldiers with guns, and we had no idea where we were going. We went to the race track, and all the stables were made into little rooms for families. I thought it was very unfair, and I was unhappy that I left high school during my junior year. I was looking forward to my senior year. As I look back at it, it still kind of stings you." Q: What major battles did you participate in? Nakamura: "Well, I have three battle scars, and I was fortunate enough to be in the battle zones in three different areas. But my buddies, who had been in the armed forces longer than me, are the ones I give credit to. They were people who started at the foot of the Italian peninsula and fought all the way up, and eventually went all the way to France. I joined the 442nd in France after they had rescued the lost battalion, where they lost so many men. One company only had eight men left from when they were assembled, and I think the commander of the rescued battalion wanted to take them in and saw just a two people. He said “I asked you to bring all the men here”, and they said “that’s all that’s left.” There were a lot casualties and a lot of men who were killed. There was just a small group of people left, and they lost more men than they rescued. Colonel Higgins from the Texas battalion, which was rescued, mentioned that he’d go anywhere to thank the men of the 442nd because if it were not for them, he would not be there. There’s a beautiful letter written by the daughters of one of the rescued men, mentioning how they would never have known their father if it hadn’t been for the 442nd. I think that’s one of the reasons the 442nd has been considered not only for that battle, but it’s the most decorated unit of its ties and history in the U.S. army. I came in late, but it was still dangerous. I had just learned about one fellow who was killed in a major battle I was in and another who had been wounded in Italy. General Mark Clark requested the 442nd to go to Italy, and we had to climb this very very steep mountain because the Germans had several outposts that exposed the valley. But we climbed the mountain at night, and surprised them. One of the Congressional medal winners for that battle was Senator Daniel Inouye, who received a distinguished service cross. But upon review by the White House, and the army, a lot of the Distinguished Service Cross recipients really should have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. There were twenty-one of them that were given a Congressional Medal of Honor that was presented by President Bill Clinton. I would say that in terms of battles, I could say I was in one major battle, and I was a part of some other things. But I wouldn’t say it was a major thing for me. I just happened to be a part of it. But wherever you are during a war, it’s not a safe place, especially if the enemy is trying to get rid of you. The final battle that I was involved in took place was in the pitch black night, and fortunately we had help from the Italians that showed us the way up. It was dangerous, but fortunately, I got in there thanks to my very good squad leader who told how to not be a target. I survived, and I vowed that if I came out alive that I would try to be a decent human being and help people." Q: How did the military treat you and the 442nd as a whole? Nakamura: "At first I think there was some problem in the sense that they didn’t know what our capabilities were, and so there might have been some hesitation to be associated with us. But as the members of the 100th and 442nd began to win major battles we became sort of wanted as the unit to penetrate the enemy forces. So as far as I know, I think we were treated pretty well. By the time I joined, the reputation of the 442nd was pretty clear, and there was a lot of admiration for them. Even though it was a segregated unit of primarily Japanese Americans with some Caucasian men, and as the war went on, the reputation of the 442nd became more known. In the Pacific, the Japanese Americans who were interpreters deciphered enemy communications, and they did so much to help the United States in knowing what the enemy was going to do. MacArthur said himself that “In no time in U.S. history did the armed forces know what the enemy is going to do more than they did in the Pacific.” So the Japanese Americans who were assigned as military intelligence personnel did so much to help the U.S. soldiers." Q: How were you treated domestically after your return? Nakamura: ''' "Let me give you an example. The artillery of the 442nd was detached, and was so good that the army decided that they needed them to advance into Germany. They were among the first to go to Dachau, where the Holocaust was being executed, and there was no mention of the Nisei soldiers being in Dachau because it was an embarrassment to hear that the Japanese Americans are rescuing these Jewish prisoners when their own families were being incarcerated in the United States. How do you explain that to the press? So for many years, there was no acknowledgement of the fact that Japanese American soldiers were actually helping the Jewish prisoners and rescuing them from near starvation. In terms of levels, the fact that so many Congressional Medals of Honor were a result of upgrading from the Distinguished Service Cross, and after several studies it had been determined that if these men had not been Japanese American at the time, they probably would not have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. That was discrimination; to give so many medals to a group of people whose families were still incarcerated. There was still hostility from the war against Japan, so yeah there was discrimination. But as far as my experience, I couldn’t say that I experienced any of that sort of thing." '''Nakamura’s closing statement: "Well, it’s a pleasure to be interviewed by you all today, and I would say that if I were to live my life over again the circumstances would be quite different. So I can’t predict what it might be. But I would say that I’m pleased with myself in the sense of doing things that happened to me, and the way that I’ve done them. One of the things that Chelsea Clinton said about her grandmother is that she said, “It doesn’t matter what happened to you, but it really matters what you do when something happens to you.” In a sense, I think I’ve been sort of a “poster person” for that sort of thing because things did happen to me, and that I somehow managed to be smart enough to take advantage of the situation instead of making it into a negative one. I would say this is very for anyone, and that you should try to build on the experiences that you’ve had. You get the background that you have from your family, your friends, your community, and sometimes these experiences might not be the most positive, but you take the things that you can do with it. Be the best person you can be, and help others be the best that they can be."